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Critic Reviews
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The production design and costumes often speak more eloquently than any of the characters, and work overtime to communicate subtext that feels a lot more fresh than most of the text. Despite the apparent dependence on CGI, which is true of nearly everything these days, the images are still overwhelmingly tactile. The direction by Jakob Verbruggen is consistently superb, with flourishes that can sincerely be called virtuoso. And the totality of the thing can’t fail to impress.
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Each of the central performances fits the story's jagged and weirdly gracious setting, coming together with mechanical smoothness. Screenwriter Hossein Amini deserves a tip of the hat for translating each chapter so easily for the screen, but the core cast enables his solid prose to hold real weight against the prominent scenery.
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Throughout its first two episodes, the series hints at many things: the ambitions of an alienist; the monstrous nature of the murderer; the construction and corruption of late-19th century New York; and a show that will continue to improve as it explores the depths not only of its willing amateur investigators, but the depravity of the one they hunt.
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There's no shortage of serial killer dramas, and if The Alienist feels familiar, it makes up for it by presenting its story in a striking package. And you won't want to look away.
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The Alienist is a gripping, multilayered detective story, prompting us of course to want to know who is killing the boys and for what perverse reason, but also wanting to know the men and the woman who are trying to find those answers as well.
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The Alienist might go very, very wrong in future episodes, and it’s already clear how the series might be more interesting if it took the plot of the novel as a suggestion instead of a road map. But there are enough pleasures around its edges to keep me watching.
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The acting styles range from sullen underplaying to over-the-top melodrama, and that mix can be quite effective. But both can be carried too far, with the underplayed stuff tending toward somnambulism and the over-the-top extremes inducing a cringe or two.
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The character development and acting (at least in early episodes) is upstaged by the phenomenal depiction of a city on the brink of modernization. In short, The Alienist is good versus stunning.
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The Alienist plays like a time-traveling installment of True Detective--Cary Fukunaga was even set to direct at one point and retains an executive producer credit, along with several collaborators from previous incarnations--or a 19th century version of Mindhunter, still delivering in sumptuous period production values and strong ensemble casting what it maybe lacks in freshness.
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A detective who gets a little too close to the monster he’s chasing: Not too original, and even less compelling when it’s served up so gradually.
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Something of a missed opportunity. To entertain someone is a fine achievement, but to coax them down dark hallways, to lead them willingly into unpleasant corners, to make them wonder about the monsters lurking inside of others and themselves—that’s something else entirely. Not every show needs that kind of depth, but when you’re delving into the crevices of humanity, you’d better leave something for your audience to find.
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The Alienist needs to be assessed for its execution of already familiar genres. Judging from the early episodes, it’s fine: lush, moody, a bit stiff. But it’s nothing to clear your calendar for.
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The book had all kinds of novelty going for it in the mid-’90s. The TV show lacks that same capacity to surprise, so it (based on the two episodes TNT gave critics) has to lean much more on its story and characters, which were on the sketchy side to begin with. ... The actors are all good, Brühl in particular finding the balance between altruism and obsession, but don’t especially elevate the middling material. (The period setting also forgives the hodgepodge of accents.)
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Those who book full passage for Season One’s 10 episodes may or may not get full closure. The Alienist, which closes out Episode 2 with Moore at the mercy of gangland forces and their young boy prostitutes, so far is trying terribly hard to be darkly spellbinding. Toward that end, it has yet to make its case.
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There’s a real disconnect in this telling. With the exception of Sara and two junior detectives, fraternal twins ostracized on the force because they are Jewish, the story seems as dry as a box of Wheat Thins. The scenery is set. The people are dressed for their parts. But The Alienist rarely gets moving.
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Be it Sherlock Holmes, “True Detective,” “From Hell,” “Ripper Street,” or even more recent series like “Mindhunter,” this kind of story has been told before and told better. Serial killers are always intriguing because they feel so alien, but “The Alienist” can’t will itself to be anything more than an R-rated update.
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Too much in the pilot gets short shrift at the expense of the show’s love affair with mood. Snow covers streets and then disappears in a scene set moments later; foreboding dialogue comes off as too on the nose. ... Episode two shakes off the unsavory visuals and moves the story and character relationships forward with less emphasis on the heaviness that hangs over the first hour, but by then, some viewers will have moved on.
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The early hours are mostly placid, even docile. What must have come to life in the pages of the book struggles to find so much as a spark on the screen — difficult, admittedly, through the pall of smoke and shadows that tend to choke it. The characters are bland, too.
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In its subtler moments the show offers some genuine chills. ... But the show’s overall joylessness makes it a slog, enhanced by the fact that the central investigation doesn’t feel like enough to pad out 10 episodes.
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Grim and atmospheric to the point of dank, The Alienist proves so derivative as to blunt its appeal. Adapted from Caleb Carr's novel, this historical fiction is handsomely produced and smartly cast, but merely delivers the latest twist on a serial-killer yarn -- a particularly nasty one, true, but which at least initially fails to get under your skin.
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The pace is breathless, the music propulsive, the dialogue delivered almost pugnaciously--why is everyone leading with his or her chin? But there’s also sufficient breadth to give the show depth. That said. ... The dialogue is frequently dull, when not being very deliberately decorated with archaic slang. The acting is mixed--Mr. Bruhl is wonderfully intense, Ms. Fanning stiff and Mr. Evans still, perhaps, awaiting his moment.
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As a moody and essentially faithful adaptation of Carr’s novel, the series gets off to a chilly yet satisfying start, an adequate entry to a particular genre that features dim lighting, resourceful urchins, a class-conscious tone and the sort of arftul staging of corpses that signifies brilliant derangement on the part of the killer. ... Peppered with cliches and predictable banter, The Alienist relies mostly on its atmospheric details to draw viewers in.
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Both the tone and the visual style are dark and murky, and while some of the historical details are fascinating, the crime drama around them is tedious and tiresome in any era.
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It's all quite sordid and grisly, but only Douglas Smith and Matthew Shear as Jewish twin-brother detectives and cutting-edge forensic nerds seem to be enjoying the hunt. [22 Jan - 4 Feb 2018, p.13]
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The Alienist, which is based on the Caleb Carr novel of the same name, comes off as a rote, by-the-numbers serial killer drama.
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All the good acting here, and all the lush Gilded Age costuming, can’t distract us from the tedium of the storytelling.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 66 out of 106
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Mixed: 18 out of 106
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Negative: 22 out of 106
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Feb 2, 2018As someone who read the book, I found the first episode immensely enjoyable.
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Aug 15, 2018
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May 9, 2018